


Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life

by wispedheart



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Ah it's a wonderful cat life AU, Cat AU, F/M, chat noir is a stray, neko, present day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 17:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7324207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wispedheart/pseuds/wispedheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life as a stray is something of a dream. Nap and steal food by day, while at night the cats come out to play. What could be better? When he meets a young house cat named Ladybug, he begins to think she may be just the thing. However, when his past comes back to haunt him, she may come to help him more than he thought he could help her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life

_“You again?!”_

Chat froze in his attempt to sidle away from the fruit stand, a banana held tight in his grip. His eyes rose to meet the gaze of the fruit seller in a moment of suspended movement, pupils thinning out in response to the surprise coursing through him. After all, usually when he stole his dinner, he not to be found out until after he was well enough away that they had no chance of catching him. He was good at what he did when the conditions were right. Living on the busy streets ended up giving you no chance not to be good at stealing. How would one eat otherwise?

Even so, he was caught now. As red-pawed as any cat could be, even when wearing black gloves. It was natural for him to do what any thief did when caught in the act: he bolted. Pounding footsteps and yells dogged his heels, nearly as quick as the animal from which that form of pursuit was named after. It was a pity that cats were the superior species, especially when it came to chasing things.

Faces and buildings passed by him in a blur as he ducked and weaved through the busy Sunday afternoon market, the wind sweeping his hair from his forehead and his mask hard against his eyes. Really, he should have known it was going to be a bad idea to hit the same place he’d gone after last Sunday. That was basic common sense; even a kitten would know it. But their bananas were almost as delicious as the croissants from the bakery down the street. And even if those croissants were off-limits, the bananas weren’t, at least not in his mind.

His attention was brought swiftly back to reality as he was forced to leap into the air, clearing a cart laden with cabbages as if it were only a stick in his path. His pursuers, however, weren’t quite as lucky. A glance back granted him the satisfying vision of the shopkeeper crashing into the cart, the cop that had managed to join in the case brought down close behind in the resulting shower of cabbages. The yells of anger were quickly placed by an old man’s voice of lament in the vegetable’s plight. Chat turned the corner into an alley then, hands coming together behind his back as he slowed to a leisurely stroll, sights setting on the dumpster about halfway between the street he’d left and the one ahead. He paused there, bringing his paws up to put the banana in his mouth. A short crouch and a scratch behind the ears later, he was in the air, vaulting from the dumpster to the rooftops in two short jumps.

As if he’d never slowed at all, he leapt into a run once more, this time allowing himself the use of four limbs rather than the two that blending into city streets required of him. Besides, hopping among roofs was all the easier when you had front paws to land on. From there, it didn’t take long to reach the place he had in mind, once more invisible to the eyes of the humans below. The small amount of guilt that came with stealing had already faded to the back of his mind, where it would stay until Chat returned once again for some food.

Pausing at the edge of a roof, he looked both ways, as if double checking that the shopkeeper hadn’t followed him. Once assured that the coast was clear, he jumped from the roof to an awning below, and from there back into an alley.

“Chat Noir!” Nino came bounding at him from the end of the alley, tail waving high in a greeting. “You made it!”

Rising to his feet, Chat let the banana fall into his hands once more, a lazy smile quickly replacing it. “No grumpy shopkeeper can catch me, especially not after my prize is already in my claws.” He waved the banana up next to his face, showing off his dinner for the day like a trophy. “Did you manage some dinner?”

“Better than that,” Nino returned his smile, falling into step beside his friend as they headed down the alley, where the others sat in wait. “This pretty human girl took pity on me. Gave me a whole fish! She must have one of our kind as a pet.”

“Doesn’t everybody?” came the reply, partially distracted as Chat peeled the banana, sharpened incisors revealing themselves for a moment as he took a quick bite. “Surprising you managed to down a whole fish, though.”

“Sad I didn’t share with ya, dude?” he teased, a roll of eyes his only answer. He flicked his tail against Chat’s leg good-naturedly. “I needed the whole thing, last I ate before that was Friday night. Besides, you know me. I could at a whole house if it were edible. And fish would be an excellent substance for it to be. Right underneath pizza, of course.”

“Pizza’s a bit harder to steal than a fish or a banana, though,”

“I didn’t steal the fish today! The lady gave it to me, remember? And if pizza were easy to steal, I’d be set for life. That’d be better eating than a house pet’s.”

“Or croissants,” Chat added, popping the last of the banana into his mouth with a purr, pausing to drop the peel into a nearby trashcan.

“Chat! Nino!” Nathanael ran up, eyes bright beneath the hair nearly completely covering one of his eyes. “Wanna come with Kim, Max and I to the Agreste district? Apparently, they had a party, so there’s a lot of nice food about to be sent to the bin. We wanna get some of it before the rats and dogs do.”

“Sure, man! I’m always up for more,” Nino’s reply was instantaneous, his tail coming up to wave behind him in excitement. “Those rich folks always throw away the best stuff.”

Behind him, Chat had paused, trying to ignore the sudden ache just past his tailbone. His spine tingled as if somebody had just thrown a bucket of cold water over it. The Agreste mansion…

“I-I’ll pass, guys,” he replied, surprising himself in the calm he managed to hold in his voice. Both of his friends paused in their quick spoken conversation, looking at him as if he’d suggested keeping a mouse as a pet, rather than dinner.

“Pass?” Nino asked, his voice managing to crack slightly despite the fact that they’d all been full-grown for a couple of years. “Dude, all you’ve had today is a banana. I know you’re still hungry, no matter what you say. And that house has the best food in town, plus the added bonus of not having to work all that much for it!”

Chat knew he was hungry too, his stomach was telling him so. But his brain was quickly convincing his stomach that the thought of going there was sickening. “No, I’ll be fine,” he replied, ears tipping back and gaze turning down to his shoes. “I-I think that banana might have had worms in it. I feel a bit sick.”

It was plain neither tom believed him, Nathanael going so far as to tip his head to the side in obvious confusion. But over the past year of knowing Chat Noir, both had learned not to question when he started to act strangely. “Then go on a walk for a bit,” Nathanael replied softly, attempting to give him an out.

And boy did Chat pounce on that one.

            “Y-yeah!” he replied, ears perking up to full attention. He began to shift backwards, turning to leave even as he called back a quick “see you in the morning!”

He was back on the rooftops practically before he could properly process that he was running again, that his cowardice had reached the forefront once more. For now, he ignored this, simply scrambling over singles and leaping between buildings as if the adrenaline the exercise brought could erase the conversation from his mind.

Night had fallen before he stopped, his body shivering with exhaustion. A sigh slipped out from between his lips, an attempt to release the tension boiled up inside him. He shifted, settling himself, his feet coming forward to rest flat on the roof. Part of him was mad at himself. Mad he still let that place get to him after so long. Mad that he'd been pushed to a point where that place got to him at all. Mad that he had to remind himself, day by day by day, that he was fine, that he was free.

Flinging himself back, he tucked his arms behind his head, taking in a whiff of night air to clear his head. At least, that was his intention.

However, night air wasn’t what he breathed in. What caught his attention was something sweeter, something softer. It reminded him of the croissant place, in a way, with a sort of flowery perfume floating alongside. His ears pricked up, and he moved quickly to his paws, scanning for the source of the smell.

He found it in the form of an open window only building away, the light streaming from it almost like a second moon, to accompany the full light shining from the one above. A short hop brought him to the roof next door, and from there he crouched, creeping on soft paws. Once next to the window, he picked up his head, peeking just over the windowsill. What he saw inside was better than any flower or baked treat.

It was another cat, just like him, though obviously one of the pets his friends were scorning what felt like days ago at this point. Logically, however, he knew it had only been earlier that day. Her ears and tail were covered in a cloud-like white fur, contrasting alluringly to the dark shade of the hair currently cascading onto her shoulders. A brush rested in a dainty hand, pulling that same hair through over and over. Her eyes were closed, concealing whatever color they may contain. The mask around them, however, red with black spots like the very creature he’d seen perched on a florists’ hat this morning, brought his ears to a forward position. It was well made, matching in moderation to the red and white dress she wore, and in pattern to the cover-up of some sort currently laying draped over her knees. All in all, she was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen, though that was no deciding factor. He’d seen dozens of beautiful cats in his life. The combination of that fur and her smell, however, left him staying where he was, crouched near her window.

Lifting his crossed arms up onto the window sill, he smiled lazily, leaning in closer as if that could bring more of the wonderful scent into his nose. “Hello, pretty lady,” he purred, quelling the urge to wave his tail back and forth over his head.

He didn’t expect a brush to the face to be his reply.

 

           


End file.
